A simple Wild Rose Elixir that opens the heart, quiets the mind and soothes the soul. Calming and uplifting it aids in our overall wellbeing, balancing all 3 doshas. Made with dried rose petals, honey and brandy, this rose tincture takes only 15 minutes of hands-on time! ( Allow 24 hours for infusion). Use in filtered water as a healing tincture, or to flavor sparkling water, champagne, hot teas, or cocktails.
Your self love is a medicine for the earth. ~Yung Pueblo
Years ago, my friend Tonia sent me a bottle of her Wild Rose Elixir made with wild rose petals she collected on San Juan Island. I will never forget the first time I tried it. I was having an especially hard day, feeling very emotional and unsettled. I poured a tablespoon of the elixir into a glass of water and envisioned her picking all those petals while I guzzled it down. Something strange happened.
It felt as if love it self had poured right into me.
My emotions softened, and it felt as if my heart was being held. I can’t explain it, and I know how this may sound strange to some, but this was my experience and it felt very real. Tears of joy welled up in my eyes.
After that day, I saved that special bottle of Rose Elixer for days I knew would be very hard or stressful, such as valentines and my wedding day. Somehow it soothed me and filled me with love. A magic love potion of sorts, but for myself.
Beliefs are very powerful.
For Valentines Day, I asked Tonia to share her very special recipe for Rose Elixir with us.
Properties and Benefits of Rose:
- In Ayurveda, rose is considered cooling, yet at the same time, it enhances agni, the digestive fire. This unique quality makes it perfect for balancing for all three doshas.
- Throughout history, people have relied on the essence of roses to nurture Spirit. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, rose is believed to balance Shen, a term that refers to our psychological health and wellbeing.
- Rose calms the mind and soothes the heart, simultaneously relaxing and uplifting, easing the emotional heaviness of sadness, grief, and heartbreak.
- In Unani Medicine (Greek-Arabic) rose is believed to help the spiritual heart, feel joy. It is believed to anchor a restless heart and open a closed heart.
The rose tincture is very simple:
It starts with 1 cup of dried rose petals, which you can find at upscale grocery stores in the bulk spice or tea isle.
You may also use freshly picked wild rose petals – tripling the amount of rose petals (and skipping the hot water).
Place the dried rose petals in a pint jar and cover with 1/4 cup boiling water and give a stir. Put the lid on and let it steam, until softened, about 5 minutes.
To the softened petals, add 1/2 cup honey.
Now you can substitute another sweetener (like agave) but Tonia believes that the honey is part of the magic.
Then add 1/2 cup XO brandy.
Place the lid on the jar and shake. Let this infuse at minimum, for 24 hours, on the counter, shaking the jar often- as agitation will infuse the rose flavor into the honied brandy.
Feel free to let it infuse longer – a week, a month, or up to 6 weeks for a more intense infusion.
Strain the rose petals.
Save the brandied petals and add to desserts– shortbread cookies, muffins, custard, over icecream…
Pour the Rose Elixer into a sealed or corked glass jar.
Save for days when you could use a little extra love. Pour a tablespoon in a glass of filtered water, hot tea, or sparkling water, or to your champagne. It’s delicious in cocktails as well, think French 75’s, Hot Toddies, or Sangria!
It makes for a lovely gift- we all know people in our lives who could use an extra bit of love.
Please share how you use it in the comments below.
We hope you enjoy this magical Wild Rose Elixir!
Happy Valentines Day.
xoxoxo
Wild Rose Elixir
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 24 hours
- Total Time: 24 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/8 cup 1x
- Category: Tincture
- Method: Infused
- Cuisine: American
Description
A simple Rose Tincture that opens the heart, quiets the mind and soothes the soul. Calming and uplifting it aids in overall wellbeing, balancing all 3 doshas. Made with simple ingredients, this takes only 15 minutes of hands-on time! ( Allow 24 hours – or up to 6 weeks for infusing). Use in water, as a healing tincture, or to flavor sparkling water, champagne, hot tea, or cocktails.
Ingredients
- 12 oz jar with tight fitting lid (2 cup, pint jar)
- 1 cup dried fragrant rose petals (6 grams)
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup honey (see notes)
- 1/2 cup brandy (see notes)
Instructions
- Place dried rose petals in the jar.
- Pour boiling water over the petals and stir to get all the petals moistened.
- Let sit 5 minutes covered with the lid.
- Add honey and brandy to the softened petals.
- Put the lid on the jar and shake until all ingredients are well mixed.
- Leave jar on the counter at room temperature for at least 24 hours (or up to 6 weeks). Shake often as agitation will infuse the rose flavor into the honied brandy.
- Strain rose petals out, and store the rose elixir in a sealed glass jar.
- This will keep 6-12 months. Refrigerate for longer shelf life.
Notes
Save and add the brandied rose petals to dessert – shortbread cookies, muffins, custard, over icecream.
You may substitue agave for the honey- but Tonia believes that honey is part of the magic.
Try to use XO (literally means extra old) Brandy, but any will do.
Use a lighter honey as darker honey can over power the rose flavor.
Add flavors like cardamom pods, ginger, vanilla…etc, but they may diminish the rose flavor.
Lastly, if you do not use alcohol, consider infusing just the honey with rose petals, for Rose-scented Honey.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 tablespoon
- Calories: 14
- Sugar: 3.5 g
- Sodium: 0.2 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
nice!
is the weight of the rose petals correct? 1 cup of dried rose petals weighed closer to 18g for me. thank you!
It is going to vary with the type of rose also if it was freeze dried or dehydrated. The one cup measurement should work fine. You can add more liquid if it seems dry, the recipe can handle a lot of variation.
thank you!
i started off with a little more than 6g of petals (~1/2c) and 1/4c of hot water for the 1x recipe and that seemed to barely cover/soften all of the petals so i didn’t add the other 1/2c. what consistency and liquidity and i looking for at this stage? since i used only half the amount of rose petals will this diminish the potency of the tincture?
FYI — i looked at the 1/2 recipe as well as the 2x recipe and the weight measurement for the rose petals across all 3 recipes is 6g.
Sorry the weight measurement is not acurate. The water is just to rehydrate the dried petals, so you don’t need them fully submerged. You may need to play around with the type of petals that you are using. The end product have nice rose flavor with a balanced sweetness from the honey.
I made this recipe with organic pink rose petals (Rosa Damascena) purchased in bulk from Mountain Rose Herbs. It is sooo good! I love it. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Yay Kirsie, so great to hear!
Just curious if any alcohol will work? I’m making the recipe as is but not fan of brandy lol.
Definitely! You may need to play around with the sweet balance, adding more honey to taste.
How long will this last and how do you recommend saving the brandied flowers?!
I keep this in small ball jars in the freezer, 6 months to a year. In the fridge about 1 week. I would either use the petals right away or freeze them or you could also try dehydrating them?
I found this recipe years ago and have made it so many times now. Thank you for the great recipe. It turns out wonderful every time!
Hi! I’m wondering if I have to use brandy or can I use just the honey? Because I prefer to not drink alcohol.😊
Roses in honey is divine! Depending on the texture of your rose petals, you may not even need to strain them out. Just eat by the spoonful. 😉
Silly question maybe but you are straining the water out before adding brandy and honey or no?
Not silly 🙂 You don’t need to strain it out. The dried rose petals usually absorb most of the water.
What a beautiful article! I just made a rose glycerite, but I think I will save this recipe for Valentine’s Day when I can use dried roses. Thank you so much for sharing!
thanks Lydia!
We have knock out rose bushes. It currently has hundreds of red roses on it. Id like to make this elixir but is there a way to use it other than in tea, water, etc? Id love to have a bottle on the counter to use daily. Also does the bottle have to be colored?
Oh my goodness! How beautiful! The amber jar prevents uv light from degrading the potency of the liquid overtime. This may not be an issue if you are using often. It might be fun to play around with it. Perhaps in whip cream, yogurt, fruit dishes, cookies, frostings, cocktails, salad dressing?? Let us know what you create!
Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe. Found dried Damascus rose petals at a store so I tried it and it turned out lovely! I particularly like it in my tea , so gorgeous…
oh wonderful!
Why do you have to use Brandy? And do you have any spirit choices instead of brandy?
I think the sweetness of the Brandy really compliments the rose here.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! I used fresh roses from the garden and tinctured in just the brandy hoping to extract more of the medicinal properties of the rose. After 2 weeks, strained the petals and added honey. Delicious and heart soothing. Gave to my Mom and a friend, both of whom had recently lost their husbands. Appreciated!
Oh, so perfect. Such a sweet gift. ❤️
Oops! I see now I missed the fresh petal substitute amount in the post. Thanks you for the lovely recipe! Currently steeping in my pantry. ♥️
Awesome Mitzi!
Kate, I’d love to know how many fresh petals you used in sub of the dried. Thank you!
I have the petals infusing in the elixir still, but I would like some recipes for the use of the strained rose petals. I tripled the recipe, so I will have quite a bit of the strained petals to use. Also, is it ok to freeze some of the strained rose petals for future use in baked goods, etc.?
I think that would be totally fine!
Hi Robin, did you end up finding and trying some recipes you would recommend? I am in a similar situation as you with lots of strained petals to use 🙂
Hi Robin- I have not tried freezing the roses. I think it would work! (though they may discolor?) I would lay the petals out on a sheet pan to freeze and then bag them up to store in the freezer.
I like to use the brandy soaked petals in shortbread cookies and almond cake. They would pair well with berries in muffins and pie. I also like to add them to honey for a fragrant treat on biscuits and the like. If you have a dehydrator, you can dry the rose petals and grind them into a powder- add a little magic to cookies, spice blends, dressings etc.
Keep in mind that the brandy flavor will be dominant in the soaked petals as most of the rose fragrance will have already infused into the elixir.
Have fun experimenting!
I have a wonderful climbing rose, whose fresh petals I used last year for your rose jelly, which is excellent by the way, and I’m thinking that this recipe, with those petals, will make something very special.
Sounds absolutely lovely.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe
Let us know what you think!
What type of rose petals do you use…out of your garden? I was told that rose petals are toxic now a days due to the hybrid and pesticides that are used.
Use food grade- from the bulk tea section in a upscale grocery store.
Great recipe ! However, Is it safe to use regular rose petals that you buy at store? Or need to look for organic or wild roses?
Use food-grade – from the Tea or Spice Bulk Section of an upscale market. They are usually organic.